The FastDay Forum

[carorees]

Ooooh, these are great folks! Keep them coming! Also I see that, so far, no-one who does ADF has come forward, so can I invite someone from the ADF tent to contribute?

[wildmissus]

I'm not sure if it helps @carorees but I at the moment I am doing 4:3 zero cal, Mon, Wed, Fri. Some months ago I tried it and didn't like it very much as I felt that it was too much like a diet and just too difficult but now I feel that it is keeping my eating days under control as I just can't eat too much every other day.

[janeg]

I'm also 4:3ing. I like the rhythm of it, not having to think about what to eat on 3 nights and not counting cals on ordinary days. I periodically think to go back to 5:2 but think that 4:3 is my groove!
And, as I still lose very slowly , I must be eating too much on ordinary days. But really don't want to count calorie.
Haven't done ADF though so son't know if this is helpful.

I do 16/8 every day because is suits me so well. On Mondays I try and do a liquid only fast but if I get really hungry then I eat. The flexibility of IF is what makes it sustainable long term for me. I can't bear to have to count calories, or points, or whatever. Not having breakfast and not snacking late into the evening is just so easy, why would I do something else?

Ballerina x

Ooooh, these are great folks! Keep them coming! Also I see that, so far, no-one who does ADF has come forward, so can I invite someone from the ADF tent to contribute?

I do ADF periodically Caroline but just can't stick to it long term as it goes in a fortnightly cycle and I just have to have my Fridays and Saturdays to feasting a bit!

I chose 5:2 because it was the only fasting method I had heard of. Since finding this forum I have obviously become aware of other methods but in the main, apart from an occasional 16:8, I stick to 5:2 because it works for me (I'm three stone lighter than I was ten months ago ) Before 5:2 I hadn't dieted for 20+ years - experience in my teens and twenties had shown me that whilst I could lose weight through calorie counting it always went back on (and always a little bit extra too). 5:2 interested me because of the supposed health benefits. I decided to give it a go because it seemed something I could do without much difficulty. I thought if I achieved any weight loss it would be an added bonus. What a bonus I got!

[carorees]

Are you sure I can't persuade an ADF-er to write a wee testimonial for the new website? How about @nursebean?

Also, is anyone doing Eat.Stop.Eat? (That's when you fast for 24 hours and then eat a normal evening meal rather than calorie counting)

I did 5:2 and loved it until I reached my target weight. Now I do 16:8 without calorie counting but eating sensibly. I find that if I do it properly, I still shed the odd pound which counteracts the occasional heavy eating day. If I cheat and have some fruit mid-morning or something light mid-evening, even though the calorie intake for the day is the same, the pounds stay where they were. This proves to me that even a 16 hour fast works.

Yes @carorees I use the ESE method quite often did one yesterday and as I eat out a lot if its evening meal I always pop one in on top of my 5:2 actually a few occasions last year I did it on top of 4:3 as you're aware I've struggled this year and as we've had family "stuff" to deal with for few months It could be stress but I don't do stress usually.
Back on track 5:2 for now making the 2 real good and true 500 fasts also restarted my walking and getting my own life back together feeling good but not getting on the scales until good Friday where I won't make my Easter goal but hey ho I'm OK with that too because I'm in a totally different place than this time last year. Pick out any bits from my post + pm to use whenever you may have to rephrase lots of it though. Lol Sue

I was always a bit on the chubby side. During university I intermittently calorie counted and my weight was fairly stable at around 9 st 3lb. During the first couple of years at work and marriage I gradually put on weight until I was a size 16. The 1st serious diet was a severe Atkins type diet ( protein only in those days) anf I went right down to a size 10. From then on it was the typical yoyo. I have done almost every diet known - F plan, Slimming club,Microdiet ( similar to Cambridge) Rosemary Conley, Weight watchers, Slimming world, Fatburners diet, GI diet. I became hypothyroid about 20 years ago and from then it became harder to lose weight ( even when apparently adequately treated) and I always bounced back higher. About 6 years ago I decided I just had to accept that I would always be fat and that I would never again do a diet that involved weighing or measuring but would just be mindful about what I ate and drank. Over the next 5 years I gradually put on about 1 more stone and ended up a size 20/22. I saw the original Horizon programme in August 2012 and thought it looked interesting but still didn't want to commit to a 'diet'. I finally bit the bullet in November that year after an article about 5:2 in the Sunday times - MM had not published his book at that time. My weight loss was never fast especially compared to some people on FB groups I joined in the early days but I stuck with it and slowly slowly my weight loss became significant. I found the FB groups and then this forum invaluable a source of information and support.I have stuck to basic 5:2 from the start. I feel that gives me significantly more normal days than fast days which is what keeps me on course. I like a drink of alcohol at the weekend which was often a deal breaker with other diets. My appetite has changed - I pick less , I get full and stop eating and my sweet tooth is reduced to the point that I now paradoxically keep quite a lot of sweets in the house so that when I want one I can have it knowing that I won't get out of control but having satisfied that urge I am not looking for other things to compensate. I feel I could do this indefinitely - anything more stringent and I think I would start to cheat so it's basic 5:2 for me all the way.

Great thread @carorees !

I do 4:3 and have been following this method since August 2013.
I've never done dieting before as i've always been a bit of a faster without even knowing it.
Never ate breakfast and some days had only one meal. So was surprised to see the Horizon programme on intermittent fasting and the health benefits that people gained from fasting. I have Crohn's disease, and i worry about the health problems i have dealt with/ will have to deal with in the future

Not looked back since and when i do i find my derrier has shrunk!
I eat one meal in the evening during my fast days and eat normally on the other days which will include chocolate, cake and biscuits along with lots of fresh veg and fruit.
Lost couple of inches off my waist and hips which is a nice extra

Discovered 5:2 at the right time when becoming more and more apple shaped. A seasonal faster for detox took to 5:2 easily initially eating very small breakfast and dinner. Quickly lost 10 kgs with combo of 5:2 and gym in 4 months then my weight loss slowed markedly. I ratcheted up my fasts experimented with low cal liquid fasting, followed by 18:6 and 5:2 with free weekends. Weightloss still remained very slow but I found it best to just push on regardless and just face the fact fasting is just ongoing part of my life and the scales did not tell the whole story.

Surprises are moving to significantly much less sugar, starchy carbs, eating more fruit, more good fats eg butter and coconut oil butter. Finding my preferred mode of fasting is a fluid fast with the hero a modified bullet coffee which takes me to a small evening meal or just a nightcap of low cal hot choc. I have rediscovered my creative side in the kitchen but my scope has widened now relishing cooking from scratch from a broad range from vegan, low carb while still making desserts which can be rich but now no guilt if they contain butter and chocolate. Maintaining around 11- 12kg weight loss and 1.5 sizes smaller ~ pretty much my original goal

My husband heard about 5:2 somewhere a year ago and thought it sounded good and doable for him. I started a week after him. He has done the basic 5:2 all along and is now slim having lost 18 KGS. From the forum I learned about eating windows and joyfully threw away breakfasts and now wait till I'm hungry to eat on my non fast days. Weekdays usually between 12 and 3 pm so I suppose I 16:8 - 19:5. I have also reduced processed and white carbs to 100 grams or less a day as I feel better for it and I believe it helps my body to use my excess fat for energy instead of using my sugar for energy. ( did I get that right @carorees ?) Its been a while since I did WW but I yoyo ed from obese to slim 3 times in my life with WW over 25 years which shows you that it doesn't work in the long run if your not willing to count points for the rest of your life which I wasn't. I will 5:2 or a variant of it for life to lose weight,then maintain my optimal weight , for the cleansing grateful feeling my body has on a fast day as well as the clarity i feel on a fast day,the light slim feeling I have the morning of a fast day and for the health benefits of fasting which means hopefully as I enter my 50s,60,s etc I won't be on 10-20 pills for various things as is the norm.
Xxx julianna

Sorry @CaroreesI got a bit behind on my reading and only just noticed this! Ooh ADF? Where do I start?! Well, at the beginning I guess...

It was October 2013 that I decided to try the 5:2 diet. Every Monday and Thursday I would eat my 500 calorie meals, all saved up in one meal. This worked well for me, for a time...then Christmas arrived! Well, I didn't think I had over eaten that much butI guess just having a week off was too much. I put the weight I'd lost back on...plus a bit more. Like a few people on here, I found it difficult to get back into the swing of things and found I ate way too much on non-fast days and I didn't really like having such a big gap between fasts either. I have to admit that I thought I would have to throw in the towel as I had done on so many occasions with so many different diets. Then @Debs wrote a review about Dr Krista Varaday's "Eat Every Other Day" diet (another catchy title, eh?!). So I had a look, out of interest and ended up giving it a go. Yes, Debs saved my bacon!

Debs also went on to create the ADF tent....and I joined! I also had advice from @PennyForthem who suggested I keep a diary of naughty foods I ate so I could see where I was going wrong. Well I used her suggestion and have created a wonderful journal of my fast and feast days, I weigh daily (recommended in Varaday's book) and keep a note of that plus I have a weekly weigh. I should also mention at this stage that I have added another challenge to my life. I haven't eaten chocolate since 10 Feb and won't until Easter Sunday. It's bean so long now, I don't even care

I can honestly say I haven't looked back. ADF has given me the structure I needed and I am seeing marvellous results. Let me consult my journal...yes, here we go. I started doing Alternate Day Fasting (ADF) or Eating Every Other Day on the 18th January...I had gone up to 12 stone. Today, the 17th March I weigh 11 stone 4. I can see a pattern emerging and if I'm right, I should weigh 11:2 on Sunday (my weekly weigh-in this week) and then next Saturday remain the same. The following Sunday I should be 10:13! My Easter Challenge goal! YES ADF is working for me. Oh and one final thing. I have had about a week or more of better days with regard to ME. Today was my best day yet. Is this because of ADFing? I can't say...but what I can say is ADF certainly hasn't done me any harm.

Oh, in case you haven't guessed...I LOVE ADF!!!

Bean

I chose fasting to try the new "diet" and see if it was going to work. What I didn't expect was that it is easier than any other diet. Granted, it took me more than a few attempts to actually manage fasts but it is much easier because I simply cannot count calories!!! As soon as I start eating for the day, that's it the willpower is gone. So I just don't eat til late in the day so there is less time to eat later. Recipes don't work for me either so for two days a week I just buy frozen meals with the calories written on them, done, easy...hopefully